JERUSALEM – President-elect Trump could possibly be the important thing think about stopping the reported Turkish destruction of the pro-U.S. Syrian Kurdish group, Fox Information senior strategic analyst and retired four-star Gen. Jack Keane advised Fox Information’ Mark Levin on “Life, Liberty & Levin” on Saturday.
“Erdoğan is a real problem here. He has a corridor in northern Syria. He backed the radical leader who took over, al-Golani, in deposing Assad because he’s been wanting Assad to go like we all did for years, but now what is he doing? Now he’s attacking the Syrian Kurds, who we support, in eastern Syria.”
Keane mentioned, “Biden is not going to do anything about it, but President Trump has a huge opportunity, and I know for a fact that President Trump dealt with Erdoğan once before over the same issue. And it stopped as a result of a phone conversation that he had with President Erdoğan.”
FALL OF SYRIA’S BASHAR ASSAD IS STRATEGIC BLOW TO IRAN AND RUSSIA, EXPERTS SAY
A masked Islamic State terrorist holding the ISIS flag in 2015. (Historical past/Common Pictures Group through Getty Pictures)
Keane mentioned one among Trump’s first phone conversations as soon as in workplace will in all probability be with Erdoğan, “if he hasn’t started talking to him already.”
He mentioned the motivation of the Syrian Kurds in jap Syria is to not seize Turkish territory however to make sure ISIS stays defeated and ensure “they do not rise again,” including that the U.S. “doesn’t need to get involved in any consequential way in Syria other than to protect our own interests and make certain that ISIS doesn’t rise again in eastern Syria which they have the potential to do.”
Whereas world leaders are largely targeted on the collapse of Syrian dictator Bashar Assad’s regime, Turkey’s strongman ruler Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has mobilized forces loyal to his authorities to eradicate Kurdish combatants on his southern border to Syria that helped the U.S. defeat the terrorist motion ISIS.
President Trump meets with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan within the Oval Workplace of the White Home, Nov. 13, 2019. (AP Photograph/ Evan Vucci)
Alarm bells are ringing in regards to the dire plight of the Syrian Kurds.
“Turkey has become too aggressive. If they get a free rein in Syria, they may covertly commit an ethnic cleansing,” warned Efrat Aviv, a professor within the Division of Basic Historical past at Bar-Ilan College in Israel and a number one skilled on Turkey, in an announcement to Fox Information Digital.
In an obvious effort to change his jihadi motion, Ahmad al-Sharaa, the chief of the U.S.-designated terrorist motion, Hayʼat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which performed a decisive position in toppling Assad’s regime, mentioned, “The Kurds are part of the nation and have suffered great injustices, just as we have. With the regime’s fall, the injustice they faced may also be lifted.”
SYRIAN DICTATOR BASHAR ASSAD FLEES INTO EXILE AS ISLAMIST REBELS CONQUER COUNTRY
U.S. forces present navy coaching to members of the YPG/SDF in Syria, Aug. 18, 2023. (Hedil Amir/Anadolu Company through Getty Pictures)
Ahmad al-Sharaa, who was till not too long ago identified by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammad al-Golani, is allied with Turkey. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken introduced that the U.S. had made “direct contact” with HTS regardless of it being an outlawed terrorist entity.
Mazloum Abdi, the top of the U.S.-allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), on Saturday urged Kurdish events in northeast Syria (Rojava) to generate a unified entrance.
“Today, Kurdish national unity in Syria has become a historic necessity in response to the challenges of this critical phase. We call on all Kurdish parties to set aside partisan interests and genuinely engage with public calls for dialogue and unity,” Abdi wrote on X.
Final week, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., posted on X, “In the past I have drafted sanctions targeting Turkey if they engage in military operations against the Kurdish forces who helped President Trump destroy ISIS. I stand ready to do this again in a bipartisan way.
“We must always not permit the Kurdish forces – who helped us destroy ISIS on President Trump’s watch – to be threatened by Turkey or the unconventional Islamists who’ve taken over Syria.”
The Dutch Parliament also intervened last week to protect the Syrian Kurds, urging its government to advocate for a cessation of Turkish attacks on Kurds.
President Biden and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan talk during the G-7 summit on June 14, 2024, in Fasano, Italy. (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
The Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) announced on Sunday in response to the ongoing attacks by pro-Turkey forces, “We face vital threats and risks, and we name on the International Coalition and all the world to unite with us to guard Kobani.”
“The world now owes Kobani and its fighters, and it’s time to stand with Kobani,” the statement continued, “calling on the International Coalition and freedom-loving people to unite and safeguard the area’s dignity and humanity.”
TURKEY’S INVASION THREATS SHOULD BE TAKEN ‘VERY SERIOUSLY’: CYPRUS OFFICIAL
Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Hakan Fidan on Dec. 13, 2024, in Ankara. (Getty Images)
Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, who was the former head of the country’s formidable intelligence service, MIT, said on Sunday in Jordan about his country’s view of the Kurdish political and military organizations, Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and The People’s Defense Units (YPG): “We’re underneath menace from Iraq and Syria. Over the previous decade, the PKK has sought to take advantage of the chaos in Syria, making an attempt to restructure itself throughout the SDF group. We proceed to fight PKK/YPG terrorism, focusing on them wherever they’re.”
He added, “Our intention is to tell apart the Syrian Kurds from the terrorist group PKK/YPG. We help the authentic representatives of Syrian Kurds of their efforts to advocate for his or her rights in Damascus.”
The YPG is the main U.S.-allied force that contributed to the defeat of ISIS. The U.S. classified the PKK as a foreign terrorist organization. The YPG falls under the rubric of the Syrian Kurdish organization, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF.)
Turkey’s government has intensified its rhetoric against the Kurds. Turkish Defense Minister Yaşar Güler said on Sunday “Our major agenda is the dissolution of the PKK/YPG.”
Displaced Kurds leave the refugee camp in the north of Aleppo, fleeing to Afrin, on Dec. 4, 2024. (Ugur Yildirim/DIA Images/Abaca/Sipa USA(Sipa via AP Images)
Incoming freshman Rep. Abraham Hamadeh, R-Ariz., whose parents are Syrian immigrants, told Fox News Digital, “As we consider Turkey’s latest airstrikes on Syrian Kurds and experiences of Hamas operatives in Turkey, it’s clear that our alliances should be anchored in mutual respect and shared targets. For many years, Turkey has been a strategic accomplice, however internet hosting teams like Hamas with out clear steps towards dismantling their operations undermines that relationship. Turkey should seize this chance to display it’s dedicated to preventing terror, not enabling it.”
When asked by Fox News Digital if the U.S. was contemplating sanctioning Turkey, a State Department spokesperson said, “As a common matter, we don’t preview sanctions.”
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The State Department referred Fox News Digital on Friday to comments made earlier on Friday after Blinken’s meeting with Fidan in Turkey.
The statement said, in part, “Secretary Blinken emphasised the significance of U.S.-Turkish cooperation within the International Coalition to Defeat ISIS mission in Syria.”
